Article: Get what you give: The art of retaining talent

Get what you give: The art of retaining talent

Here is an account of what companies should do to ensure that their retention rates are on a rise and attrition gets kept at bay.

On average, how much would you estimate the cost of reinstating a high performing employee to be? What if we redirected the same question to ‘How much of value will it add to the business if my current star performer stays longer?’

With the existence of the ‘Cost of Employee Turnover’ calculator, one could keep a check on the future expenses as well as immediate expenditures. What would be really great would be a ‘Return On Engagement’ calculator! Imagine knowing the possible pitfalls, the impact of absenteeism on annual turnover, and being able to prevent them, saving the company a huge cost.

“Satisfaction is a rating. Loyalty is a brand” said the customer service expert Shep Hyken.

Decisions need to evolve with changing times

Consider a situation when you have stringent company policies in place that have been adhered to for generations. Would you still live by all the rules in the book even if you knew that it is harming your employees? Or, would you make efforts towards looking for an alternative handbook that is a little less harsh, but equally disciplined?

Is it the work-life-integration? Or is it emphasis on skills and learning? Here’s what we believe some of the companies are doing right to ensure that their retention rates are on a rise and attrition gets kept at bay.

Building the right pressure

Tweaking traditional thinking to work in tandem with modern contemporary functions. Healthy competition versus critical comparison, will not only make the hard-working ones stay, but also aspire the competent ones to excel.

Leveraging memories to celebrate milestones

Why has nobody considered uploading Instagram stories and Facebook posts about the internal initiatives and top performers? If you already believe in giving credit where its due, make it grand and give it with pride.

Team decisions over individual opinions

An atmosphere where the hierarchies remain on paper for organizational structure purposes. But when it comes to taking the brunt, the praise, as well as the lashings, the team stands as one.

Nurturing a culture of ownership

Accentuating organizational commitment routed via autonomous engagement. Making the right decisions to invest in ‘People development’ for business growth motivates employees to keep coming back for more.

Personal conversations over digital communications

Every relationship demands its own space to foster, be it client and agency, or employer and employee. Taking the onus to encourage inter-departmental as well as cross-functional interactions leads to a more open-minded culture.

Mindfulness and wellness first

The ‘People First’ approach has been in practice for a while. But companies that really look after their employees with flexible work timings and recreational activities, have automatically put in place a culture of employee advocacy.

A smart number game

While a survey conducted by Nintex claims that 53% of employees do ‘not’ expect to stay at their companies beyond a tenure of five years, another survey by Gallup determines that six in 10 millennials are prone to the concept of ‘job-hopping’. In a dynamic country like ours with developing skilled workforce, one can only empathize with the challenges that organizations have to tackle.

The very same thought makes one wonder ‘How do I save this additional cost and retain my existing talent?’ Throw in a bit of annual perks, bi-annual internal initiatives for team building, a huge cake for all the birthday celebrations in the month, get-togethers at every festivity, and you have a perfect recipe for retention?

Mistaking peripheral engagement as happiness at work, is what leads to these upsetting statistics. It’s time to start giving better to yield significantly measurable results.

Author

Asif Upadhye is the Chief Fun Officer of Never Grow Up ®. Armed with business management degrees from reputed colleges of India, Asif started his career in Marketing and Communications within the Financial Sector. He has over seven years of experience in Marketing & Product Management of Financial products wherein he has worked across business lines in companies like HDFC Ltd (Brand Communications), HSBC Bank and Barclays Bank PLC before taking the entrepreneurial leap to found Never Grow Up in 2010.